Time to Train
by SkyGem
Summary: Tsuna loved training new recruits. It was always so much fun to knock them down a peg or two. Especially when they didn't know it was their new boss that was training them. Too bad his father seemed intent on ruining his fun. Three-shot. Warning: Iemitsu-bashing.
1. Ruin Everything

Summary: Tsuna loved training new recruits. It was always so much fun to knock them down a peg or two. Especially when they didn't know it was their new boss that was training them. Too bad his father seemed intent on ruining his fun. Three-shot. Warning: Iemitsu-bashing.

* * *

Tsuna walked up and down the line of new recruits, all standing at attention.

There were twenty of them in all, and in Tsuna's opinion, they were probably the most promising group he'd trained yet. Most of them had already built a good muscle base in the weeks he'd been training with them, althoug there were a few that were still a step or two behind.

Coming to a stop at the end of the line, Tsuna looked down at the two twelve-year-olds and the sixteen-year-old standing before him, who were most definitely _not_ any of his new recruits.

Crossing his arms, he raised an eyebrow at them in question, giving the three interlopers a _look_.

The three just kept looking straight forward though, standing tall, and after a moment of silence, Tsuna rolled his eyes in exasperation and turned around to address the new recruits.

The three children all breathed out sighs of relief that they hadn't been kicked out, matching grins spreading across their faces.

Going to take his usual spot in front of the group, from where he usually addressed his students, Tsuna tried not to look annoyed that his father was already standing there.

He was currently taking a break between missions, and with nothing else to do, he had decided to bother Tsuna out of some misguided notion that some "quality bonding time" would strengthen their non-existant relationship.

Already, his students were behaving far better than they usually did, and Tsuna had the sneaking suspicion that it was because the Young Lion of the Vongola was present, and they all wanted to do their best to get in his good books.

After all, they had no idea who their slender, baby-faced, doe-eyed instructor was.

Not that he minded that fact at all. In fact, he rather preferred it this way. It was good for him to get some quality time with his new recruits - one month to train them as just Tsuna instead of Vongola Decimo, so that they could ask him for help or clarification without worrying about offending him.

Opening his mouth, Tsuna was just about to announce their training schedule for the day, relatively easy compared to what they had learned up until then, as today _was_ their last day (he didn't want them to be too tired for the celebration after all), but his father interrupted him before he could get a single word out.

"As I'm sure you all know," he began, "Today is your last day in basic training. Tomorrow morning, you will each be assigned to one of the guardians' squads, and from there onwards, your superiors in your squad will be responsible for teaching you the special skills required by each of the different squads."

Iemitsu went on in that vein for ten whole minutes,the recruits all listening to him in rapt attention, before Tsuna was finally able to cut off his father's rambling with a half-shouted, "ENOUGH!"

All eyes turned to the brunet, almost half of the recruits looking disappointed that they would not be able to hear more of what the Young Lion had to say, while most of the other half looked annoyed that Tsuna had interrupted them.

"Just because today is your last day desn't mean you can all slack off!" warned Tsuna, before making a shooing motion with his hands. "Now get on, all of you. Get started with your warm-up! Then do workout number seven!"

Grumbling, the recruits all walked away, and Tsuna turned to face his three little monsters, who were looking around at the recruits, seeming quite lost.

"Tsuna-nii, why are their warm-ups different from ours?" asked Lambo, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Is it because they're on a higher level than us?" asked I-Pin, looking frustrated.

An involuntary bark of laughter escaped Tsuna, and he ruffled their hair.

"Silly. It's the opposite. Your level is way higher than theirs!"

The kids all beamed at this, pleasantly surprised, and Tsuna returned their smiles.

Shooing the kids to a vacant corner so that they wouldn't disturb the recruits, Tsuna took another look behind him, only to see the recruits not doing their workouts, as he'd told them to.

They were all huddled around Iemitsu, who looked absolutely thrilled to be the center of attention.

Feeling a little pang in his heart, Tsuna turned back to his little ones, wondering just why his father always had to ruin things.

* * *

SkyGem: Aww, poor little Tsu is feeling all hurt. Anyways, I know nothing much happened in this chapter, but please do review and let me know what you thought, yes? This fic is going to be a short one, and the next two chapters will be posted tomorrow and the day after. They'll also be slightly more interesting with a bit of angst and Iemitsu getting his just deserts. Stay tuned for more, yeah?


	2. I'm Not Crazy

SkyGem: Guys. I am so completely floored. Seriously. Forty reviews for that short first chapter? Really? You guys are way too good to me! I mean, I thought I was done being surprised at the number of reviews I get, but nope. I'm still so shocked and so happy. You guys are really helping make this easier. And now, with this, I've got four days in a row! Can you believe it? I'm so happy! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this!

* * *

Matteo di Sani gasped and stumbled forward, clutching at his leg as a sharp, searing pain shot through the limb, his calf muscles contracting into a tight little knot of pain.

And just like that, fast as lightning, Sensei was standing at his side, lowering him gently to the ground and muttering under his breath.

"What did I tell them?" he muttered to himself as his cool fingers pressed to the skin of Matteo's leg. "I told them always make sure to do your warm-ups. And what do you do?"

He looked up at this last sentence, addressing Matteo, who ducked his head in shame.

Their instructor was a petite young man, with a slender build and surprisingly firm muscles. He was soft-spoken and was so young, he could have easily been a new recruit himself.

But he was talented, there was no denying that.

He moved with the tight, controlled grace of a lion stalking his prey, his stride smooth and powerful.

Thus far, no one had yet been able to lay a finger on him during their sparring sessions, although they had made an agreement early on that if any of them did ever manage it, everyone else would have to fork over five dollars each.

Sensei didn't seem to mind Matteo's lack of a reply.

He just kept massaging his calf, and Matteo couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him as he felt the muscles begin to loosen up once more.

His leg still felt extremely sore and tender to the touch, but the cramp was gone, and Sensei seemed to notice it.

Removing his hands, Sensei leaned back, a wide smile on his face as he ruffled Matteo's hair. From anyone else, it would have been irritating, but once again, Sensei seemed to be an exception.

"Now you be careful, okay?" he said. "Don't put too much stress on that leg or it will only become more sore. And take what da...ah..._Iemitsu_ says with a grain of salt. He may be the Young Lion, but he's not a teacher. He doesn't know how much is appropriate for your bodies and if you follow him blindly, you could get seriously injured. Alright?"

Matteo nodded mutely, surprise and bewilderment not allowing him to verbally reply.

He watched as Sensei got up and walked back towards those children he had been teaching up until moments ago (Matteo suspected they were the Decimo's rumoured younger siblings. It didn't surprise him at all that Sensei was teaching such important children - he was so talented, he could have been Decimo's trainer and it still wouldn't surprise Matteo).

"Get up, Matteo," said a voice from behind him, and Alonso Vitolo lightly slapped the back of his head. "Mister Iemitsu doesn't like slackers, you know. If you want to impress him-"

_'Impress him?' _thought Matteo, still not taking his eyes off his sensei. Why exactly was it again that he had wanted to impress Iemitsu?

Matteo looked back towards where Iemitsu was walking through the lines of other new recruits, who were already sweating like crazy and looking about ready to collapse, despite the fact that they were supposedly only doing warm-ups.

"You know..." he said, trailing off. "I don't think I _want_ to impress him anymore."

"What?" demanded Ada Martone from his other side in a voice that suggested Matteo had gone off the deep end. "Of course you want to impress him. He's the Young Lion for goodness' sake! _**AND**_ he's Decimo's father! Impress him, and maybe you can get in Decimo's good books."

Matteo shook his head, slowly backing away.

"I don't care," he replied. "He's a horrible teacher and you know it. I happen to like the way Sensei has been teaching us this past month, and I think I'd much rather be taking advantage of my last day with him than try and keep up with Iemitsu."

And with that, he turned and headed over to where Sensei and the children were practising.

Sensei noticed him from a few feet away, and the beaming smile on his face when Matteo told him he wanted to continue learning from him rather than Iemitsu was definitely worth the stares that had bored into his back as he walked away from the rest of the group.

Stares that seemed to be asking, _'Are you crazy?'_

Matteo wanted desperately to turn and shout at them, "You're the ones who are crazy! Can't you see that guy has no damn idea what the hell he's talking about? AND HE'S AN ARROGANT PRICK!"

But he didn't say that.

He just took advantage of the fact that he had his Sensei (mostly) to himself for the moment.

And he tried not to look too winded when one of the kids landed a kick to his stomach during one of their spars.

He did have at least SOME dignity after all.

* * *

SkyGem: The end of chapter two! It's short, I know, but this fic isn't meant to be such a very long one. Sorry to my lovelies who seemed to think it would be. But to those who don't mind short, insubstantial fics, please let me know what you thought! Leave a review letting me know if you liked it or hated it or whatever. And stay tuned and look forward to the next chapter, which will have the final showdown with the big boss ;). Nighty night darlings! Sleep well and see you again tomorrow!


	3. Confrontation

"Faster," said Tsuna. "You're not going to get close enough to attack them if you're that slow."

Huffing in frustration, Matteo collapsed to his backside, running a hand through his close-cropped black hair.

"This is absolutely impossible," he grumbled, and Tsuna laughed, gesturing for Fuuta to pass the water bottle to the tired young man.

"You're doing really well though," said Tsuna as Matteo took the bottle from Fuuta with a murmured thanks. "You've improved quite a bit since last month."

Matteo didn't say anything, instead taking a large gulp of water before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

For the past hour, they'd been working on a tricky little technique that technically wasn't even supposed to be part of Matteo's training.

But Tsuna had gotten fond of the young man, and was thinking of choosing him as a part of his own group. He was certainly talented enough.

Suddenly, there was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Tsuna turned to see who it was.

Or rather, who _they_ were.

Approaching Tsuna's little group were three very disgruntled-looking recruits, Alonso, Costanzo, and Ada.

They were close with Matteo's, if Tsuna remembered correctly.

"Are you three alright?" asked Tsuna, approaching them with a worried look on his face.

Ada tried to smile.

"We're fine, Sensei," she said.

"No we're not!" chorused the two boys.

"Iemitsu is completely unreasonable!" declared Alonso, crossing his arms.

"He expects us to be on the same physical level as his CEDEF officers," whined Costanzo.

Tsuna rolled his eyes at his father's actions.

He'd been keeping a clsoe eye on his "training," and to be honest, he wasn't the least bit surprised that the students were starting to lose their patience.

"Go find some space on the floor and relax for a bit," Tsuna told the three. "Your bodies have been exhausted and continuing to tire yourselves out won't help one bit. Just do your cooldown exercises, relax for five minutes, then start with your _proper_ warm-up exercises. Got it?"

"Yes Sensei!" answered the three of them, immediately going to do as they'd been told. They'd already met with the consequences of not trusting their teacher's guidance.

Over the course of the next two hours, the rest of the stuents started trickling back to join Tsuna's group as they got fed up with Iemitsu.

The man himself seemed to be getting more and more desparate with every student that left his rans to join up with Tsuna.

And finally, when there were only six people left that were willing to put up with his bullshit, Iemitsu strolled up to his son with a friendly yet condescending smile on his face.

"So how's the training going, tuna fishie?" he asked, going to throw an arm around his son's shoulder.

At the last moment, Tsuna ducked away and turned to stand face to face with him, quite a bit apart.

"It's going well," replied Tsuna in an awkward voice. "The recruits are on a much higher level than usual this time, which is amazing."

"Higher level than usual?" asked Iemitsu, seeming incredulous. "These kids? Tuna, they can barlely stand long enough to finish their warm-ups! How on Earh is that higher level?"

Growling low in his throat, Tsuna stepped up to his father, who was by now only a little taller than Tsuna.

"They're not CEDEF officers!" growled Tsuna, punctuating every word with a vicious jab at his father's chest. "They're _**NEW **_recruits! They still need some time to get better."

Iemitsu snorted.

"At this rate? They're never going to get any better if they don't pick up their pace a bt more," said Iemitsu with a shrug and a goofy grin, as if he had no idea how much he was riling his son up.

"Yes, they WILL!" Tsuna almost shotued, and suddenly, all heads turned towards him and his father. "It's not like they're going to just get better in a day. These kinds of things need time! ...Not that you would know, of course."

Iemitsu gaped for a moment, wondering just when Tsuna had become...this.

"What do you mean, not that I would know?" demanded the older Sawada, feeling anger well up inside him.

"I mean that by the time any something reaches you, it's already been polished off perfectly, no blemishes whatsoever, so you don't have to get your hands dirty! It doesn't matter if it's a new recruit you're training, or even if it's your own son!"

"Wha-you...you don't really think that, do you Tsuna?"

"I don't think it," said Tsuna. "I _know_ it. And for some godawful reason, you've been trying extra hard to make us bond or whatever the hell it is ever since mom finally left you!"

"Tsuna," said Iemitsu, a warning tone in his voice as he cast a look around at all the students, who were watching them both with rapt attention, more than a few of them sporting confused expressions. "This isn't the right time-"

"Then whem IS the right time, dad?" demanded Tsuna. "Because whenever you're not trying to 'mend the rift in our relationship,' a ship that saild long ago might I add, you're out in the corners of the world, taking whatever jobs you can find that will keep you away from the mansion for as long as possible!"

Iemitsu flinched at this, and Tsuna knew he had hit close to home.

And then, before his father could say anything in return, Tsuna turned and headed back to his students.

Iemitsu stood where he was for a few moments longer before turning and leaving the room with quiet steps.

Tsuna fumed silently for a few minutes more, before looking up and realizing that now each and everyone was staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

"Y-you..." said Costanzo, pointing at Tsuna with a horrified expression on his face. "You just called him dad."

"Yeah?" said Tsuna in a confused voice, wondering just why that was such a shock to them.

"So y...you're V-Vongola Decimo?" asked Ada, and it suddenly clicked in Tsuna's mind why everyone around him looked like fish out of water.

Laughing sheepishly and scratching the back of his head, he replied, "...yeah?"

"Oh," said Ada, her eyes still wide. "Good to know..."

There was a moment of heavy silence as everyone tried to process this new information.

Some of the recruits looked dangerously close to fainting as they remembered how they'd essentially abandoned "Sensei" earlier that morning.

In the end, it was Matteo who broke the silence.

Quelling the nervous butterflies in his stomach, Matteo smiled what he hoped as a reassuring smile.

"You're a very brave person, Sensei," replied Matteo.

"It's not easy to tell a loved one they're wrong. But sometimes, it's something they need to hear."

Here he smiled awkwardly at Tsuna, hoping his message had gotten across.

It had.

Loud and clear.

And Tsuna couldn't help but smile like a goon.

* * *

_**THE END**_

* * *

SkyGem: Well, that's it! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Please do leave one last review and let me know what you think, yeah? Oh, and also, I'm curious, how many of you have read Assassination Classroom? I'm sure you'd all love it! Check it out if you haven't already, yeah?

OH, and I almost for got! This fic was a prompt from the lovely and talented Bleach-ed-Na-Tsu. I honestly have no idea what I'd do wihtout her. Three cheers for you, Em!


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